Palestinian officials said Israeli border police arrested the two artists who crafted the large painting, now on display at a separation barrier in Bethlehem

Israeli border police on Saturday arrested two Italian graffiti artists who were painting a mural of a jailed Palestinian teenager, Ahed Tamimi, on the Israeli separation barrier in Bethlehem in the West Bank, according to Palestinian officials. Read more + photos.

July 29, 2018

With 2,000 tons of gold in reserves, Russia’s bullion holdings are approaching the Soviet peak seen in 1941. Moscow is striving for financial independence and escape from US dollar hegemony, analysts told RT.

“Some countries in the world want to depend as little as possible on US policy, they dump the dollar in trade and American assets as reserves.Read more.

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab militants in Syria says it has come to an agreement with the Syrian government to develop negotiations to end violence in Syria.

The announcement was made after the so-called Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), sent a delegation to Damascus for talks with Syrian officials earlier this week. The SDF, itself, is a US-backed coalition of mainly Kurdish militants. Read more.

The EU has piled further pressure on Pakistan’s likely next prime minister, Imran Khan, after his country’s disputed general election, noting a “lack of equality of opportunity” and “systematic attempts to undermine the ruling party” ahead of the vote. Read more.

July 28, 2018

Amos Yadlin says IDF was correct to shoot at jhadist missile launcher and not regime target after projectiles landed in Sea of Galilee

The former head of the IDF’s military intelligence said Thursday that the firing of a pair of missiles from Syria into the Sea of Galilee a day earlier was likely an effort by the Islamic State group to draw Israel into a confrontation with the Syrian regime. Read more.

July 27, 2018

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a step closer to being evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy in London after President Lenin Moreno said the whistleblower must "eventually" leave the facility.Read more.

July 26, 2018

Cricketer-turned-politician promises peace with neighbouring India, says he plans to put country on the right track.

Pakistan's Imran Khan declared victory as his PTI party increased his lead in a divisive general election marred by a long delay in ballot counting and allegations of vote rigging by the opposition. Read more.

The Sovereign Bolivar has five zeros less than the current currency and will be anchored to the Venezuelan digital cryptocurrency, the Petro.

The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, announced that on Monday, August 20, a new currency will begin to operate in the country, going from the Bolívar to the Bolívar Soberano (Sovereign Bolivar), anchored to the cryptocurrency, the Petro, the president said. Read more.

July 24, 2018

I don’t think either Nato or the EU has the slightest interest in chasing the provenance of weapons in the hands of Islamist fighters in Syria or anywhere else in the Middle East

Readers, a small detective story. Note down this number: MFG BGM-71E-1B. And this number: STOCK NO 1410-01-300-0254. And this code: DAA A01 C-0292. I found all these numerals printed on the side of a spent missile casing lying in the basement of a bombed-out Islamist base in eastern Aleppo last year. Read more.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker won't be bringing a specific trade offer when he meets with US President Trump on Wednesday. Germany's foreign minister said the EU won't "cave in" to US trade threats.

Ahead of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's meeting with US President Donald Trump, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday escalating threats won't resolve a trade dispute with the United States. Read more.

Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is currently under construction, is set to deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany. The project has been widely criticized by the US which wants to supply its own liquid natural gas instead.

Trump has also warned that the pipeline will make Berlin too dependant on Moscow, but, according to a recent poll, it seems the majority of Germans don't see it that way. Read more.

Two Patriot missiles fired at Russian-made Sukhoi plane, which entered two kilometers into Israel

Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet that penetrated Israeli airspace on Tuesday, the Israeli army said. It said that the Russian-made Sukhoi was under surveillance when it entered some two kilometers into Israeli airspace. Read more + video.

July 23, 2018

EU finance chief Pierre Moscovici has said that the bloc is willing to build bridges in the ongoing trade dispute with the US.

"What I stressed several times in my meetings here is that the EU is certainly not the author of major trade imbalances," said Moscovici while addressing reporters during the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires. Read more.

July 22, 2018

Israel calls move an 'exceptional humanitarian gesture' that was done at the request of the U.S. and its European allies due to 'an immediate threat to Syrian lives'

Israel rescued some 800 members of the humanitarian organization "White Helmets" from Syria overnight Saturday, allowing them across the Syrian-Israeli border and then transporting them to Jordan. The operation was confirmed by both the Israeli army and the Jordanian Foreign Ministry. Read more.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to restore calm in the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for Hamas said on Saturday, after the Israel Defense Forces launched a massive attack on the Gaza Strip late Friday evening, following an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinians in Gaza. Read more.

Law defines the country as Jewish homeland, further marginalising 1.8 million Palestinian citizens of Israel. Israel's parliament on Thursday adopted a law defining the country as the nation-state of the Jewish people, provoking fears it will lead to blatant discrimination against its Palestinian citizens.Read more.

Moshé Machover discusses the advances and limitations of the Labour Party's document on anti-semitism, which represents an important step forward to diffuse an issue that has become an artificial controversy designed to undermine Jeremy Corbyn

U.S. weapons exports from 1950 to 2017. Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's Arms Transfers Database. Units are expressed in trend indicator values (TIV). Each dot on the map = one TIV.

The Russian military is ready to work with the US colleagues on all the areas discussed by the two presidents during the Helsinki summit, namely cooperation in Syria and mutual reduction of the strategic nuclear arsenals.Read more.

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says he will not reject the United Nations’ supervisory role in Hudaydah if the Saudi-led coalition ends its weeks-long aggression against the Red Sea port city.

In an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Tuesday, Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi said he had informed Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, about his readiness to place Hudaydah under the world body’s supervision. Read more.

Peaceful multicultural societies don’t exist and the EU won’t be able to force “equal” migrant distribution on Eastern Europe, where colored people are beaten to a pulp, the Dutch FM said according to a leaked video.

The explosive comments were delivered by Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok during a private meeting attended by some 80 people working for the Netherlands’ international organizations. Read more.

July 16, 2018

TEL AVIV — New details from a trove of Iranian nuclear documents stolen by Israeli spies early this year show that Tehran obtained explicit weapons-design information from a foreign source and was on the cusp of mastering key bombmaking technologies when the research was ordered halted 15 years ago.

Iran’s ambitious, highly secretive effort to build nuclear weapons included extensive research in making uranium metal as well as advanced testing of equipment used to generate neutrons to start a nuclear chain reaction, the documents show. Read more.

The German High Court in Schleswig-Holstein ruled Thursday that former Catalan regional president, Carles Puigdemont, could be extradited to Spain—but only on the lesser charge of embezzlement of public funds.

The German court threw out the charge of “rebellion” requested in Spain’s European Arrest Warrant (EAW), arguing that “violent clashes with the Civil Guards or the National Police did not reach a point where the constitutional order was under threat in Spain.” Read more.

July 15, 2018

Indira Singh explains about Ptech, the company with numerous investors and managers with direct links to terrorist financing. Ptech’s clients included the CIA, FBI, the White House, the Department of Energy, the Air Force, the Navy, the FAA, IBM and Enron…
Yet Singh learnt they were a CIA front company and their software could gain control of the most sensitive computer systems in the country. Read more.

Western countries have reportedly been scrambling to evacuate "volunteer" White Helmets from Syria, who have been accused of cooperating with Takfiri terrorists and staging false flag gas attacks.

CBS News broadcasting service reported on Saturday that White Helmets members are in danger of assassination and in need of rescue as the Syrian army intensifies its counter-terrorism operation in the country's southern part. Read more.

Dozens of missiles have rained down on Gaza with deadly effect, in a major escalation of Israeli action.

The Israeli military said the wave of attacks targeted Hamas, but they came after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had been pressured to take action against burning kites being sent over the border by Palestinian protesters.

There were reports late on Saturday of a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, but in the hours since that has given way to several new strikes.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Israeli capital in protest against the so-called nation-state bill, which, they say, would enable ethnic segregation.

The controversial bill also drew criticism from US Jews.
Demonstrators marched through the streets of Tel Aviv chanting: “Full equality and no less,” “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies" and "The nation bill is a disaster," according to witnesses. Read more.

July 13, 2018

The Union of South American Nations – UNASUR – was an ambitious project to integrate South America not just on economic terms, but also on political and social terms, but the rightward drift in Latin America is leading to its dissolution, with the unfortunate help of Ecuador’s government, where its headquarters are, says former foreign minister Guillaume Long.Read more.

President Donald Trump said NATO allies had committed to raising their defense spending beyond 2 percent on Thursday morning, following a flurry of public diatribes against key members of the 29-nation bloc.

“NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago,” Trump told reporters in Brussels, shortly after he had prompted an unscheduled crisis meeting among the group’s members. Read more + video.

July 10, 2018

A leaked Chinese memo reveals that the Chinese military is combating "peace disease" and avoiding an "unavoidable" war by . . . building up their military? What does all this mean, what does it have to do with Thucydides, and what is the reality behind this smoke and mirrors?

July 8, 2018

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has issued an interim report, on the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma in April.

It says various chlorinated substances were found in samples from two sites in Douma. Yet, the report also states no nerve agents or their degradation products were detected. The OPCW has not yet reached a final conclusion about the allegations, and its work is still ongoing. Read more.

President Trump is a man who judges his successes by anecdote — both real and embellished. But his trade war is turning the anecdotes against him, and there are growing signs of trouble, even as the war officially began Friday.

A poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University asked whether people felt Trump's "taxes known as tariffs" against China were a good thing or a bad thing, in light of news that China retaliated with its own tariffs on U.S. goods. Fully 56 percent of voters thought the situation was bad for U.S. jobs. Read more + video.

North Korea has accused the US of demanding unilateral denuclearization and said their attitude was "extremely regrettable." US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a different takeaway, saying the talks were "productive."

US and North Korean officials gave conflicting statements following the conclusion of high-level talks in Pyongyang on Saturday that took place following last month's summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Read more.

Israel and the United States formed a joint working group a few months ago that is focused on internal efforts to encourage protests within Iran and pressure the country's government.

Why it matters: The Obama administration almost completely refused to discuss any potential efforts for stirring unrest or encouraging protest inside Iran with Israel due to its efforts to complete the Iran nuclear deal. The joint team is a major example of the Trump administration's policy shift in the region. Read more.

Ever hear about "Lifelog?" You know, the DARPA project to create an automatically updated, itemized, organized, electronic list of every interaction you have, every event you attend, every place you go and everything you do?

The project that was announced as canceled the very same day Facebook launched? Well, neither had I? In today's Thought for the Day we explore the Lifelog/Facebook "coincidence" and what it tells us about our wired world. Read more.

July 6, 2018

The UN Human Rights Office and many European countries have slammed Israel’s decision to demolish a small Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank. Activists claim Israel wants to use the land to expand settlements.

Israeli authorities have moved three bulldozers to Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin herding village in the West Bank, following a court’s ruling that declared the settlement illegal under Israeli law. The military already left a land confiscation notice there on Tuesday, local media reported. Read more + video.

July 5, 2018

Once a family-owned business Forbes is well known for producing their annual list of the world’s richest billionaires. Launched in 1982 the original list ranked the top 400 Americans by net worth. Only 13 billionaires were included in that list, and their combined worth was the equivalent of 2.8% of GDP.

In an era where “Greed is Good”, the list became wildly popular, by 2000 the combined net worth of the top 400 equated to 12.2% of US GDP. So prestigious became the list that an ex-employee of Forbes has claimed that Donald J Trump inflated his personal wealth to be included. Read more.

China says US tariffs on Chinese goods will hit international supply chains as Washington’s new duties are expected to take effect at midnight Thursday.

China’s commerce ministry reiterated that Beijing does not want a trade war with Washington. Separately, China’s customs agency said retaliatory tariffs on US goods will come immediately after US duties on China kick in.

The US measures target 32 billion dollars of Chinese goods. Beijing will impose duties on nearly 30 billion dollars of American products. The tit-for-tat trade spat between the two countries has recently escalated amid fears that the situation may get out of control.

July 4, 2018

"As long as I am defense minister, there will not be any reunification of Palestinian families," Liberman said.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said during a recent heated debate at the Prime Minister's Office that he will not allow the reunification of Palestinian families inside Israel, according to Channel 2 News. Read more.

July 3, 2018

A British warplane directly attacked Syrian forces near the border with Iraq and Jordan last month, killing an army officer and injuring seven others, the Sunday Times daily has reported.

A Typhoon fighter jet dropped a 500-pound (226-kilo) bomb on Syrian forces who were fighting Takfiri terrorists near the al-Tanf base where British and US special forces train militants, it said. Read more.

The Atlantic Council hosted a top Ukrainian official with deep ties to neo-Nazi groups days after he lamented the rise of far-right violence in the country, underlining how the NATO-funded think tank continues to enable Kiev.

Andriy Parubiy, chairman of Ukraine's parliament, spoke at an Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC last week entitled "The Frontlines of Freedom: A Conversation with the Speakers of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine." Read more + video.